Tale of the Kosher Turkeys

 

And other Thanksgiving adventures.

In my freezer I have a half turkey breast, enough for three with some extra to give my sister-in-law for shabbos.  With five people, a small whole turkey or whole turkey breast would be better.  For Kosher turkeys, Trader Joe's contracts with Empire to provide unfrozen birds.  They had only one on my trip there last week, maybe just slightly larger than I wanted, and too soon to buy a fresh one.  I opted to return with enough time to thaw a frozen one from Shop-Rite if Trader Joe's still did not have one.  They didn't.  Moreover, their customer service agent told me no new ones would be coming.  So on to Shop-Rite.  No fresh ones.  No turkey breasts.  Not that many whole frozen ones, the smallest just under 17 pounds. Their meat department rep assured me they had no others in the freezer.  I put it in the cart.  Now I could see if Super G had one, but being risk averse, I did not want to lose what I had just acquired, as there was just enough time to thaw a bird that size in the refrigerator.  Or I could stretch out that half turkey breast, or maybe go back to TJ to see if they had a second half turkey breast which would feed everyone between the two halves.  I played it safe, purchasing the Big Bird, $58 worth.  It will thaw.  Leftovers will freeze for many a shabbatot to follow, made even more economical with poultry soup once the carcass is harvested.  And along the way I got all the other things I needed supplemented by a few things I didn't need.

At checkout, the register tape informed me that if I spend just another $13 before Thanksgiving, I qualify for their premium, usually a whole Empire chicken or vegetarian illusion of turkey.  Chicken the better option but it takes up freezer room.  I'll return and find a way to spend another $13 to get a premium worth $16.

I do not have a good sense of why Kosher turkeys have become scarce.  Standard turkeys, mostly frozen seem plentiful, though a bit expensive, defrayed by the Shop-Rite incentive which includes them as a redemption premium.  And the sizes vary a lot more.  Empire has a virtual monopoly on this.  They operate their main plant just a few hours from where I shop, so international transportation snafus would be a lot less than for the other poultry mass producers.  Maybe they have difficulty getting labor.  Maybe their contracted farmers don't want to make deals with them.  Perhaps they have a shochet shortage, as their slaughtering cannot be mechanized.

And the absence of small birds deserves a comment.  There was a discussion in the Haredi community as they populated America as to whether the turkey was a Kosher bird.  The experts ruled that it was.  Then they debated whether it was appropriate to celebrate an American holiday with Thanksgiving's origins.  It was ruled OK but not mandatory.  Also convenient, as Torah is read in synagogues every Thursday.  This enabled Bar Mitzvah ceremonies that relatives who would need to drive could attend.  A big turkey or two provides for a luncheon.  Today, those are the largest families among the Jews, and the most who also routinely engage in communal meals.  So selling them large turkeys makes business sense.

The rest of us have gotten smaller families, often hard to assemble in a single gathering for a single meal.  That's my family.  When I go to shabbos morning services, thinking about how our congregation could serve its members better, I will sometimes count who had shabbos dinner alone the night before.  About half the people in attendance.  More of us are couples.  A few of us have children nearby, too far to come for shabbos, within driving range for Thanksgiving.  And a few of us have siblings that can assemble without air travel.  But large gatherings seem the exception.  The marketplace usually adapts to this.  It looks like Empire Kosher Poultry hasn't.